In our last blog post, we talked about why you should have a blog. Now, we’re going to tell you how to put a successful blog post together.
It used to be all about:
- number of words
- bullets
- images
- internal linking
But then things slowly started to become more complicated, bit by bit.
2018 introduced E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) with Google’s Medic Update.
2022 brought the Useful Content Update, adding a second layer: usefulness — and a second E, for Experience, turning E-A-T into E-E-A-T.
Then came generative AI. As tools like ChatGPT made generic, easily-summarised information less valuable to search, many in the SEO world argued the winning content would be the kind that offers something not readily available elsewhere — original insight, first-hand experience, or information you can’t just ask a chatbot for.
And if things weren’t already complex enough, real people who consume your content added a layer of their own: shorter attention spans.
The real question became: how do we now structure a blog post that meets this new reality?
Buckle up: it’s about to get meta.
Title
No pressure, but your title is one of the most important parts of your blog post.
Before talking about keywords and length, let’s stop for a second and ask yourself: what do I know about a topic that someone out there will be interested to read about?
Topic not being a keyword you want to rank for. Topic being sourced from your own experience and expertise is what you want to start with.
“Someone” being your target audience.
Once you understand these two, you can effectively start giving it a title.
The reason you want to do this is because your title will guide you throughout and help you stay on course — explaining to readers what was promised in the title.
Does this dismiss the traditional approach to a successful blog post title:
- Mind mapping topics
- Keyword research
- Coming up with a title based on steps 1 and 2
Not entirely — but quite a bit.
So, how do you come up with a great blog title?
Step 1: Understand the topic you’re good at — one you can expand into a series
It’s no longer enough just to understand bits of the main topic to be a blogger whose articles get read, saved and shared. You want the full picture on the topic. E-E-A-T hinted at this back in 2022, when Google added “Experience” to what was E-A-T. If you got a follow-up question — “but what about…?” — could you answer that subtopic thoroughly? If you can identify numerous points you could expand into standalone topics, you might be onto something.
Step 2: Keywords
This has always been about understanding what your audience is interested in — probably the easiest part.
Start by understanding whether there’s already shown interest from your target audience about a particular topic, and which words they already use in search to gain knowledge or simply satisfy curiosity about it.
Those search terms can be found using traditional tools and methods such as Google Keyword Planner or the “People also ask” section in Google search results.
Note: unless you’re talking about something groundbreaking that doesn’t really have search volume yet, in which case you can skip this step and get straight to formulating your title.
Step 3: Intention of the title
The rules change depending on your main intention with the title — for example, whether it’s:
- Click-bait
- Best-of
- A unique point of view
The first two are the easiest, and sometimes the line between them is thin.
Let’s take a look at one classic example: Best Of
This one is fairly easy — just follow two steps:
- Incorporate your best keyword into your title.
- Keep your title to 60 characters or fewer: any more than that, and there’s a chance your title will be cut off part way through in the SERP.
If you were looking for the best ice cream places in Manchester, which search result would you be most likely to click on?
There are a few reasons the top result is more likely to receive clicks than the one underneath: the inclusion of relevant keywords and the number in the title, to name a couple.
But beyond that, the length of the title plays a role too. The second result gets interrupted part way through because the title tag is too long, making it less clear to the searcher what the result is about.
Title tags under 60 characters are more likely to receive clicks. This is a simple — and important — thing to get right. Somewhere between 50–60 characters is the sweet spot.
But now let’s look at a different example.
This is where the rules disappear and pure writer genius kicks in. You don’t need to think about length as much as you need to think about substance.
And if you’re wondering how a headline with no obvious searchable keywords is meant to be found on Google — the honest answer is: probably, it won’t be. Not through traditional search, anyway.
And here’s where we add another layer of complexity for our modern age: your articles won’t only be discovered by standard Google search, but also by its little helper — Gemini — plus other AI agents.
The traditional rules from the first example still very much apply. But it’s increasingly important to add your own voice and perspective, because that’s what makes AI cite your content.
Meta Description
A meta description is the brief description you see on the SERP to preview what the page is about, highlighted here in red:
It acts like a summary and can be used to give potential website visitors more info about what your webpage will offer them.
Meta descriptions are usually best kept to around 155 characters.
Featured Image
You’ll want a relevant, eye-catching image to sit at the top of your blog post.
Steer clear of using copyrighted images; you can land yourself in trouble if you’re using pictures that don’t belong to you.
If you’re looking for some pictures to add to your page, try using copyright free libraries like Pexels, Pixabay or Unsplash. They’re mostly free to use, just make sure to comply with their usage terms (you might be required to give credit in the footer of your blog page, for instance).
If you want to elevate your game, look at Shutterstock for higher-quality images than what you’ll typically find on free stock sites.
AI-generated imagery is also an option — John Mueller himself has said there’s little practical difference between stock photography and AI images when they’re used purely to decorate a post rather than represent something specific (like a real product). The caveat: crediting the source doesn’t give low-effort AI content a pass — Google’s quality guidelines are explicit that thin, AI-generated content can still be rated lowest quality “even if the page assigns credit… to another source.” So the real bar isn’t disclosure, it’s whether the image (and the surrounding content) genuinely adds value for the reader.
Introduction
This is where you lay out the topic and tone of your blog post.
But there are two sides to this coin. Or, better yet, three.
- Human perspective: people gravitate toward writing that feels casual, informative, and not too stuffy or pretentious.
- AI perspective: give the answer to your article’s main question early. Studies on AI citation patterns (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews) show a strong bias toward content that answers the question clearly and early — one large study found nearly half of ChatGPT’s citations came from the first third of a page.
- Writer perspective: a writer is also a human being. Sometimes the better piece of writing plays with words a little — drops a hint in the intro, then slowly earns the answer as the idea develops. That’s often what makes something worth reading, not just worth scraping.
So which do you choose?
AI wants the answer immediately. Readers want to feel something first. You won’t fully win both — but you don’t have to fully lose either.
If we had to pick, the middle ground is the answer: hook your reader with a strong first line, give a brief sense of what’s coming, and don’t drone on. Around 100 words is ideal — the goal isn’t to bury the answer, just to earn it a little before you give it.
Subheadings
Attention spans are dwindling, and most website users don’t pay that much attention to what’s below the fold.
Content above the fold receives the most attention by far, with website users spending about 74% of their time on the top two screenfuls of content. The remaining 26% of their time on the page is spent in small increments further down the page.
What does this tell us?
People skim more than they read.
Subheadings give your reader anchor points within the text that allow them to scan for the information they’re looking for – and this keeps them on the page and engaged for longer.
- From a human perspective, subheadings break up the page, make your blog post less intimidating to read, and improve user experience.
- From an SEO perspective, making use of subheadings helps Google to better understand your content. Google places more weight on the title and subheadings in your post than regular body text, so subheadings are a perfect spot to place those keyword variations.
- From an AI perspective, the logic is a bit different: AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Google AI Overviews tend to extract self-contained chunks of content to cite — and a clear, question-based subheading followed by a direct, complete answer is exactly the shape they’re pulling from. So subheadings are less a place to stuff keyword variations and more a place to ask the exact question your reader (or the AI) is trying to answer — then answer it plainly, right underneath.
Subheadings should make use of H tags (H2, H3, H4 etc). Keep in mind that H1 is always reserved for your title.
Body
At this point, you’ve done the window dressing and you’ve secured the click – now you need to impress your website user with well-researched, unique, informative and engaging content.
Read also: Content Writing Tips for Beginners
Some basic things to remember:
- Keep your sentences and paragraphs short so that you don’t overwhelm the reader.
- Adding in some bold text or italics can help keep a reader engaged – just don’t overdo it.
- Bullet points are great ways to organise information on the page – like this!
- Proofread, proofread, and proofread again.
Google cares about the quality of your content — its own Search Quality Rater Guidelines state that pages can be rated lowest quality if the main content is auto-generated or padded with little effort, originality, or added value for the reader, even if credited properly. So if you’re using AI to bump up your word count, quality-check everything before you publish — padding hurts more than it helps.
And bear in mind that people love to see a human touch! Anecdotes, humour, and witty writing will allow you to connect with your readers in a genuine way.
As for word count, anything over 1000 words is great, but try not to stress too much about this figure; a short blog is better than no blog. If you happen to be having a particularly loquacious day, shoot for 1500 words of quality content.
Data and Stats
Backing up your claims with stats goes a long way towards gaining trust and authority. Where appropriate, try to find reputable, trustworthy and recent sources of information.
Use the numerical value in your writing; instead of writing Five Top Ice Cream Spots, write 5 Top Ice Cream Spots.
Multimedia Elements
Remember what we said about short attention spans?
To keep readers engaged, add in multimedia elements like photos, videos, audio and social media posts.
You don’t have to be a master of photography to include these elements; you can use copyright-free libraries like we mentioned above.
Conclusion
A short outro will tie off the article in a satisfying way. You don’t need to make this too long, just make sure there’s some sort of narrative conclusion to your post.
CTA
Always finish off with a relevant call to action.
This is where you encourage your reader to check out a product on your website, ask them to email you, or link them to another relevant blog post.
(Here’s our conclusion and CTA for this blog post …)
Blog writing can be fun, but it’s also time-consuming. If you’re looking for some content marketing assistance, reach out to us today!
So, now that you’re an expert in what makes a good blog post – how did we do?
